"Although I don't know why it was inside the curtain, take a look at this!"
Komachi raised her hand, displaying the object in her grasp for Asakura and Hachiman to see.
It was a tiny, fabric amulet.
"Is this... an omamori from a shrine?" Hachiman asked in surprise. "The characters on it actually haven't disappeared or become blurry due to various reasons?"
"Miyamizu?" Asakura narrowed his eyes to discern the writing on it. "Shouldn't the text on this normally be a prayer for safe childbirth?"
"Your understanding of omamori is far too narrow..."
Hachiman deadpanned with his dead-fish eyes as he complained: "Usually, prayers for traffic safety or good health are much more common, you know."
"The 'Miyamizu' here generally refers to the name of the shrine, right?" Asakura ignored his complaint and continued speaking.
"Yep! Now we just need to find out where 'Miyamizu Shrine' is located, and we'll be set!"
Komachi nodded her head and said happily.
"Miyamizu Shrine, Miyamizu Shrine..."
Asakura rubbed his chin. "I instinctively feel like I've heard this name somewhere before..."
"I remember now!"
Hachiman, who had also been thinking deeply, suddenly struck his palm with his fist. "Two years ago, there was a very famous piece of news saying that a town in Hida was struck by a meteor."
"Hmm, now that you mention it..." Hearing him say this, Asakura also shared a bit of an impression—although he had been constantly busy with urban survival during the initial period after his transmigration and hadn't paid much attention to the news, he had still heard about this event because its level of discussion was incredibly high, even for someone like him who kept his ears closed to the outside world.
"It was exceptionally famous back then. Clearly, over half the town was completely destroyed by the meteor, yet absolutely no one died in that accident, with only a few sustaining minor injuries—at first, some people even believed the local municipal office had intentionally covered up the casualty count to deflect responsibility." Hachiman stated: "However, it was only later that magazines like Shukan Bunshun published reports stating that the shrine maiden of Miyamizu Shrine had dreamed of the meteor strike, so she called the townspeople to evacuate to the school ahead of time."
"Hmm?" Asakura furrowed his brows.
"What's wrong? Is something not right?" Seeing his reaction, Hachiman couldn't help but ask with a sudden drop in confidence.
"Why is the news in my impression completely different from what you saw?" Asakura muttered in confusion. "Didn't a massive number of people die, leaving almost zero survivors? That town... I recall it was called Itomori, right?"
"You must have mixed it up with some other disaster," Hachiman shook his head and said. "Otherwise, going by your version, you shouldn't have any impressions related to Miyamizu Shrine, right?"
"No, I distinctly remember the news seemingly bringing up a point about how some intangible cultural heritage braided cord technique of Miyamizu Shrine had been lost to time or something..."
Asakura recalled as he spoke.
The two stared at each other blankly, and then, in perfect synchronization, looked toward the third person present.
"Komachi, you should also remember this news, right?" Hachiman asked his younger sister.
"Yep! The version in Komachi's memory is exactly the same as Brother's—the version of 'An Absolute Miracle!' where nobody died. That was precisely the headline used on the TV news back then."
Komachi nodded her head and said: "Because the braided cords attached to the Miyamizu Shrine omamori shown in the news were so beautiful, Komachi remembers it very clearly, you know."
"Looks like it's two to one."
Hachiman stated proudly.
Though it was completely a mystery what exactly he was acting so proud about.
"Has a deviation occurred in my memory?"
Asakura murmured to himself.
He did his best to recall the news he had heard during that period. Since he happened to be working a part-time job at an izakaya back then, and the izakaya's television had broadcasted the news regarding this event while many patrons discussed it fervently, his impression of it was actually quite profound.
He had absolutely not remembered it wrong. The news explicitly stated that the entire town had suffered catastrophic destruction, with the death toll exceeding four digits—a massive catastrophe that shocked the world.
"...No, rather than a deviation in memory, it feels more as though history has undergone a change?"
This was by no means an impossibility.
In fact, if it weren't for his magical energy being overdrawn, Asagumo's spell should have been capable of achieving a similar feat.
It was worth mentioning that the very first spell Asakura obtained was not [Snake], but [Scale].
It was just that he didn't possess any magical energy at the start. When he attempted to activate the spell, he suffered a backlash, to the point where the spell [Scale] had briefly nested on his arm, forcing him to wrap it in bandages to cover it up.
Although Asakura generally utilized the spell [Scale] as a defensive skill nowadays, it inherently carried the meaning of "isolation"—explicitly separating the "individual" from the external environment.
Even though Asakura's activation had failed, the fact that the backlash caused scales to grow on his arm meant the spell had not vanished, but had realistically produced a specific effect.
Looking at it now, it might very well have been that specific blunder back then that caused Asakura to possess a certain degree of resistance toward certain "supernatural phenomena" occurring in the outside world.
Even though history had undergone a change, it still had not rewritten his memories, allowing him to retain the memory of the destruction of that initial town named Itomori.
After all, for the time being, setting aside the authority of evil gods, spells were the tier with the highest priority among extraordinary individual forces. The only thing that could counter a spell was another spell. Therefore, back then, Asagumo's reincarnation cycle could bypass the passive state of [Scale], but it would be seen through once Asakura actively activated [Scale].
Yet the extraordinary force currently causing the alteration of Itomori Town's history was clearly not that powerful; it couldn't even affect Asakura, who back then had merely suffered a backlash from the spell [Scale].
No matter what, Asakura had already missed the absolute best window of opportunity to interfere with the alteration of history. Now, even wanting to investigate the cause behind the alteration of history would likely not be that simple.
However, considering that history had shifted from "thousands of casualties" to "zero casualties," the person who initially changed history probably didn't do this out of any evil intent, so Asakura had no intention of forcefully changing it back anyway.
Furthermore, just like Asagumo's predicament, altering history itself was an incredibly high-risk behavior. The world itself possessed a corrective force; under this premise, the more one changed, the greater the difficulty and danger became.
For something like this where thousands of people were saved all at once, it would be difficult to accomplish even for Asagumo at her peak. Considering that the other party was using a supernatural power even cruder than a spell, the final outcome would likely be exceptionally severe as well.
The segment of memory from the past history naturally could not be preserved. For every person brought back to life, a portion of that party's existence would be stripped away. As a result of saving thousands, if there were no other force paying the price on his behalf, it was feared that as the savior, he wouldn't even be able to retain his own sense of self.
"Hmm, wait, that's not right..."
Asakura suddenly thought of this pocket of space they were currently residing in. He arched his eyebrows, revealing a somewhat unbelievable look: "Could it be..."
"Did you think of something?" Hachiman asked curiously.
"I'm not entirely sure yet..." Asakura rubbed his chin, "But since things have come to this..."
The Hikigaya siblings stared at him expectantly, waiting for his instructions on their next step.
And so Asakura calmly walked over to the sofa, plonked himself down, and said in a clear voice: "In any case, let's sleep first."
The Hikigaya siblings simultaneously revealed expressions of disdain that were hard to conceal.
However, they didn't have any better alternative either, so they could only helplessly follow Asakura to rest for the time being.
"Don't we need someone to stay awake and keep watch?"
There were only two intact sofas, so Hachiman, who could only sleep on the floor, asked Asakura.
"There's no need for that." Asakura shook his head: "Rest up properly and build up your energy. In a little while, I'll show you guys something good."
Although the Hikigaya siblings didn't feel that sleepy—rather, their spirits were actually quite good—since Asakura had put it that way, both of them prepared to take a short nap as well.
After all, even if they wouldn't experience hunger within this space and physical exhaustion was practically non-existent, mental depletion was still present.
"This is actually the first time Komachi has stayed overnight in a place like this." The girl snuggled into the other fairly intact sofa, speaking with excitement like a child out on a field trip: "It feels so novel!"
"When you were preparing before a school festival or during club training camps and things like that, did you never stay overnight at school?"
Asakura yawned and asked.
"Of course I have."
"Then this wouldn't be the first time, right?"
"No-no-no, what Komachi means is," the girl shook her head in a deadpan manner: "the first time staying overnight in a ruin!"
"It hasn't quite reached the point of being a ruin, has it..."
"You two, could you please not whisper while it's time to sleep?" Hachiman, who was the only one lying on the floor, said with a voice full of resentment.
"Brother, do you want to sleep on Komachi's sofa?"
"Two people won't fit, right?"
"Why did you take it for granted that it meant sleeping together with Komachi?! Of course it means swapping with you, Brother!" Komachi said.
"Never mind, Komachi should just stay on the sofa."
After Hachiman finished speaking, he looked toward Asakura's direction with an expectant gaze.
Asakura very pretentiously began to snore.
Hachiman's head was filled with black lines, while Komachi covered her mouth, laughing softly.
After a little while longer, Komachi let out a tiny yawn, looking a bit tired as well.
"Brother... goodnight..."
"Komachi?"
"I wish you... eternity... health... and happiness..."
"Why are you saying that like it's a message left behind by a dying comrade-in-arms?!"
"I've already... zzz..."
"Komachi, ahhhh!"
Before Hachiman could finish shouting, Asakura, who was on the sofa beside him, stuffed a trophy right into his mouth: "Shut up, I still need to sleep."
"Mmph, mmph, mmph..."
Hachiman dragged the trophy out of his mouth with deep resentment.
There was a heavy taste of rust in his mouth, which initially made him think he was bleeding. However, he subsequently discovered that nothing of the sort was happening—Asakura's technique was unbelievably good; stuffing such a massive object into his mouth had actually failed to cause even a shred of damage. It was purely that the corroded portion of that trophy had remained inside his mouth, that was all.
After spitting out all the nasty stuff from his mouth with a series of pfehs, Hachiman also quieted down.
Although he was somewhat dissatisfied regarding his current situation, he had long since grown accustomed to this kind of unjust treatment, and the speed of his psychological adjustment was astonishingly fast.
All sorts of random thoughts flooded his brain. The chaotic and tangled ideas caused his mind to gradually grow heavy and sluggish, until ultimately he no longer persisted in remaining conscious. Instead, just like his younger sister, he quickly drifted off to sleep.
As a result, just when Hachiman felt as though he had only just closed his eyes and fallen asleep, he was slapped across the face by someone, instantly jolting him awake.
"Stop sleeping, it's about to begin."
He opened his eyes in anger, only to see Asakura's solemn expression.
"What?" Hachiman asked blankly.
Meanwhile, Komachi, who had long since left the sofa on the side, also appeared to have made her preparations.
She glanced at Hachiman and said with a beaming smile: "To think you actually slept for so long and couldn't even be yelled awake. Brother, you truly are a heavy sleeper."
"In terms of my personal perception of time, I literally only just closed my eyes..."
Hachiman's dead-fish eyes looked even more dead. He scratched his messy hair, sounding somewhat impatient, presumably due to a lack of sleep, as he asked: "Fine, so what exactly is about to begin? A post-festival party? A test of courage gathering?"
Asakura gave no answer, merely stepping up to the window.
Komachi also grabbed Hachiman's hand, approaching another window along with him.
Judging by the color of the sky outside, it ought to still be the dead of night right now.
However, the sky—which originally revealed absolutely nothing extraordinary—was currently just like a genuine summer night, dotted with countless cascading stars. Hikigaya felt that he could even spot the so-called Summer Triangle.
"Huh? Wait... that is..."
Subsequently, he witnessed the most unbelievable existence within the cosmos.
It was a meteor dragging a long, magnificently dazzling trail of flame.
In the next split second, the meteor split apart.
One of the slightly smaller fragments no longer followed the main body of the meteor to continue cutting through the darkness of the night sky, but instead began to continuously, continuously—
Plummet.
Hachiman had never imagined that one day, he would actually be able to witness a literal meteor strike from such a close distance and with such absolute clarity.
Following that, was the impact.
It wasn't the explosion that arrived first, but the light.
A beam of pure white light that was near transparent detonated close to the ground first, like some sort of invisible colossal hand violently slamming the entire town against the earth.
Only after the radiance did the sound come—the kind that surged up from deep underground, a heavy roar that caused one's ears to instantly lose functionality.
The instant the meteor smashed into the earth's surface, the ground looked as though a massive maw had been gouged open. Crimson and orange fragmented light erupted and rolled out from the depths of the crater, rock layers were vaporized into dust, trees were uprooted and overturned, and houses collapsed in the tremors like building blocks.
A volcanic column of dust shot straight into the sky, expanding as it rolled along with a high-temperature heat wave.
The ground resembled a colossal drum being struck; shockwaves sprinted wildly along the soil, lifting up layer upon layer of shattered walls of water across the lake surface.
The air was thick with a metallic heat and ash, and the sky was dyed a deep crimson by the dust and smoke, as if the entire world were being crushed beneath the burst of this single point.
Even while standing inside the relatively safe principal's office of the school, the shockwave generated by the impact still managed to affect this side, blowing the already rather messy principal's office into an absolute shambles, covered in scars.
"What on earth is this..." Hachiman, who had been flipped head over heels by the wind, muttered blankly while patting the dust off his head.
Komachi was also coughing rather weakly, though with Asakura's timely assistance in deploying [Scale], she looked noticeably less miserable.
"The event that once occurred on that day." Asakura looked at the scenery outside the window, his eyes bright and piercing: "The situation of this space, I completely understand it now!"
(Note: This is the movie Your Name)